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Returnees outnumber Syrian immigrants

Published: 20 Feb 13 11:05 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46298/20130220/

Sweden welcomed record numbers of immigrants in 2012, with Syrian newcomers tripling compared to 2011, according to a new report from Statistics Sweden that also showed that returnee Swedes dominated the league table.


Last year, 103,059 people moved to Sweden, taking the country’s population to 9,555,893 by the year’s end, wrote Statistics Sweden (SCB) on Wednesday.

The total population increase, however, was 73,038 as almost 52,000 people at the same time decided to leave Sweden.

Of these emigrants, 69 percent were people who had at some point immigrated to Sweden. These emigrating immigrants had been in Sweden for an average of 6.6 years.

Around 20 percent of the people who moved to Sweden in 2012 were in fact Swedes who were returning home.

Most of the returning Swedes came from Norway - the average returnee was 28 and had spend a bit more than two years in the neighbouring country.

The second largest influx came from Syria, from where 4,730 people immigrated to Sweden. This figure is more than three times as high as that of 2011.

Six out of ten of Syrian immigrants were men. The average age is 29 for men and 27 for women.

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14:43 February 20, 2013 by jostein
Smoke and mirrors. To learn the truth i need but step into the street and look at the people around me.
15:12 February 20, 2013 by wabasha
step a little further and a syrian bus driver might see it differently
15:34 February 20, 2013 by jostein
Yes wabasha. I know.
18:32 February 20, 2013 by occassional
Visit any McDonalds or Max and you will see Sweden of the future in miniature.
22:00 February 20, 2013 by johan rebel
Syrian bus drivers do see it differently.

For a while last year I regularly had to take a bus, because the railroad was being upgraded. I hade a pretty tight connection at the other end, so I was always relieved when the bus driver turned out to be from the Balkans or farther afield. I then knew that I we would arrive on time or even early, regardless of traffic and traffic laws and regulations. Every time. Without fail.
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